The Ekiti state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has condemned the move by the state House of Assembly to hold a public hearing on the finances of local governments in the state.
The party alleged a sinister motive in the planned public hearing, adding that it was a systematic attempt to strangulated the local government in the state.
It was gathered that the House of Assembly had issued a public service announcement inviting the general public to the hearing on the finances of the local governments in the last one year.
The hearing would be holding on Tuesday, December 11, at the Ekiti state House of Assembly complex in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
Chairman of the PDP in the state, Gboyega Oguntuwase, said: “If the essence of their public sitting is holy and not an attempt to subdue and intimidate the council chairmen and work towards an end, they ordinarily should have met the conditions precedent.
“Firstly, they cannot bring unaudited accounts to any public hearing. If the accounts are unaudited, it becomes unacceptable. We are not against accountability, but it must be sought with very clean hands.
“All these rush-rush attitude shows that they are working towards a premeditated end. We are not saying that people should not be accountable. But, with the totality of the scenarios, with an APC speaker, leader of the House and all the three principal officers, they may sidetrack other members and there would not be justice.”
He said the hearing was “a systematic attempt to strangulated the local government in Ekiti. In the past few months, no kobo has been remitted to the local governments, thereby making it impossible to run the nearest unit of government to the ordinary man in Ekiti.”
One of the 16 local government chairmen, who craved anonymity, said: “They invited us some weeks ago to give account of our stewardship. This account of stewardship is given on a yearly basis. But they said we should give account of nine months.
“We found it amusing and incongruous with the norm. The papers we presented to them are already in the public domain, but in a situation where the accounts were not audited, they didn’t ask the chairmen questions and they did not come to the councils for any form of verification, it’s awkward what the public hearing is based on.”
Meanwhile, it was gathered that the Ekiti Executive Council at its sitting on Wednesday, December 5, approved the cancellation of certain key appointments made by the immediate former governor of the state, Ayo Fayose, in the twilight of his tenure.
According to report, the review also affected all other appointments made into the state’s public service.
The chief press secretary to the governor, Olayinka Oyebode, who briefed newsmen at the end of the meeting, said that all executive secretaries appointed after the July 21 governorship election in the state were to revert to their former positions.
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